Cinema of Louis Malle

Philippe Met is professor of French and cinema studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He has authored and edited several books on literature or film, and is the coeditor of Screening the Paris Suburbs: From the Silent Era to the 1990s (2017).

• AcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsForeword, by Volker SchlöndorffIntroduction, by Philippe MetTransversal Studies1. Malle Before Malle, by Guillaume Soulez2. The Art of Silence: From Documentary to Fiction, by Caroline Eades3. No Comment: Direct Cinema in Humain, trop humain and Place de la République, by Derek Schilling4. Louis Malle’s Nonfiction: Tradition, Rebellion and Authorial Voice, by Alan Williams5. Louis Malle’s 1960s ‘Star’ Films, by Sue Harris6. Experimentation and Automation in Zazie dans le métro and Black Moon, by Ian Fleishman7. Louis Malle and ‘His’ Writers (Drieu La Rochelle, Nimier, Modiano) , by Michel Ciment8. A Gendered Geography of Death: Louis Malle’s Orphic Voyage, by T. Jefferson Kline9. The Figure of the Mother in May Fools, Au revoir les enfants and Murmur of the Heart, by Justine Malle10. Jazz as Counterpoint in Elevator to the Gallows, Murmur of the Heart and Pretty Baby, by Jean-Louis PautrotMonographic Essays11. The Fire Within: Touching, by Elisabeth Cardonne-Arlyck12. Le Voleur: (Self-)Portrait of the Filmmaker as a Thief, by Philippe Met13. Absorbtion and Reflectivity in Phantom India, by Ludovic Cortade14. Fog of War: Lacombe Lucien and Its Afterlives, by Steven Ungar15. Memory, Friendship and History in Au revoir les enfants, by Sandy Flitterman-Lewis16. Atlantic City: When Sound Meets Utopia, by Francesca Cinelli17. Between Conversation and Conversion: My Dinner with André, by Tom Conley18. Vanya on 42nd Street: Inventing a Space of Creation, by Sébastien RongierInterviewTruth and Poetry: An Interview with John Guare, by Philippe MetVaria (previously unpublished material)Notes for a Lecture on the Queen Elizabeth 2, by Louis Malle‘The Loner’: Treatment suggested by H. James’ What Maisie Knew, by Louis Malle (with introduction by Philippe Met)Afterword, by Wes AndersonFilmographyIndex

In sum, this volume is as generous to film enthusiasts just coming to Malle’s work as it is to seasoned scholars. Critics and scholars will find a wealth of new biographical and critical detail, as well as new primary sources and an excellent introduction to the current state of debates on Malle and his legacy. Newcomers will gain insight into the wide-ranging talents and interests of this bicultural, bilingual director who successfully navigated the film industries in France and the United States.